See ANATOMY and PHYSIOLOGY, ANIMAL.

Religious uses of Blood. Amongst the ancients blood was used for the sealing and ratifying of covenants and alliances, on which occasions the contracting parties drank a little of each other's blood; and also for appeasing the manes of the dead, in order to which blood was offered on their tombs as part of the funeral ceremony.

The blood of victims was anciently the portion of the gods; and accordingly it was poured or sprinkled on the altars in oblation to them. But the priests made another use of blood, namely, for divination; the streaming of blood being held a prodigy or omen of evil.

The Roman priests were not unacquainted with the use of blood in miracles; and they had their fluxes of blood from images, ready to serve a turn, as, for instance, that said to have streamed from the statue of Minerva at Modena before the battle at that place. But we know not whether, in this species of legerdemain, their successors have not gone beyond them. How many are the relations, in ecclesiastical writers, of madonnas, crucifixes, and wafers, bleeding? The liquefaction of the blood of St Januarius at Naples, repeated annually for so many ages, seems to transcend all the frauds of the Grecian or Roman priesthood. But the chemists at last got into the secret; and M. Neumann of Berlin performed the miracle of the liquefaction of dried blood, with all the circumstances of the Neapolitan experiment.

Amongst the schoolmen we find a famous dispute, under Pope Pius II., whether the blood of Christ, which fell from him in the three days' passion, retained or lost the hypostatic union; and consequently whether it was the proper object of adoration. The Dominicans maintained the former, the Franciscans the latter. But the Dominican doctrine gained the ascendency, as being fitted to favour the profits of the monks, who becoming somehow possessed, as they said, of a few drops of this precious liquor, were certain of receiving ample offerings from the deluded laity, who flocked to pay their homage to the sacred relic. Joseph of Arimathea is said to have first brought into Britain two silver vessels filled with the blood of Christ, which by his order was buried in his tomb. King Henry III. had a crystal containing a portion of the same blood, sent him by the master of the temple of Jerusalem, attested with the seals of the patriarch; which treasure the king committed to the church of St Peter's, Westminster, and obtained from the bishops an indulgence of six years and a hundred and sixteen days to all who should visit it. And Matthew Paris assures us, that the object of the king in summoning his nobles and prelates to celebrate the feast of St Edward in St Peter's Church was chiefly pro veneratione sancti sanguinis Christi super adepti, in veneration of the holy blood of Christ lately acquired. Divers others of our monasteries were possessed of this profitable relic; as the college of Bons-Hommes at Ashridge, and the abbey of Hales, to which it was given by Henry, son of Richard, duke of Cornwall and king of the Romans. This supposititious blood was resorted to by a great concourse of people for devotion and adoration; till, in 1583, when the Reformation commenced, it was perceived to be only honey clarified and coloured with saffron, as was shown at St Paul's cross by the bishop of Rochester. The like discovery was made of the blood of Christ found among the relics in the abbey of Feschamp in Normandy, pretended to have been preserved by Nicodemus when he took the body from the cross, and given to that abbey by William duke of Normandy. It was buried by his son Richard, and again discovered in 1171, and attended with different miracles; but the cheat, which had long been winked at, was at length exposed, and a relation of it is given by Speed.

Avenger of Blood, among the Jews, was the next of kin to the person murdered, who was authorized to pursue the murderer, and, unless he found shelter in one of the cities of refuge or sanctuaries, to take life for life.

Ecclesiastical judges retire when judgment is to be given in cases of blood, by reason of the maxim, Ecclesia non novit sanguinem. The church condemns no person to death; and by law, its members become disabled from their functions by the effusion of blood.

Blood-Hound, the canis sagax of Linnaeus, le chien courant of Buffon, the sleuthhound of the Scots, a hound or dog, with long, smooth, and pendulous ears. It was a dog of great use, and in high esteem with our ancestors, being employed to recover any game that had escaped wounded from the hunter, or been killed and stolen out of the forest. It was remarkable for the acuteness of smell, tracing the lost beast by the blood it had spilt, from which the name is derived. This species could, with the utmost certainty, discover the thief by following his footsteps, let his flight be rapid, and through the most secret and thickest coverts; nor would it cease its pursuit till it had taken the felon.

The true blood-hound was large, strong, muscular, broad-breasted, of a stern countenance, of a deep tan colour, and generally marked with a black spot above each eye.

Blood-Whyte, or Blood-ryte, in ancient law, signified a customary amercement paid as a composition for the shedding of blood. The word is also written blodchite, blodwita, blodwyta, bloodwit, bloodwit, bloodwit, bloodwit; being formed from the Saxon blood, blood, and rite or rete, a fine or penalty. It also denotes an exemption from this penalty, granted by the king to certain persons and communities as a special favour. King Henry II. granted to all tenants within the honour of Wallingford, Ut quieti sint de hidagio et bloodcute et bredeute.

Blood, Thomas, generally known by the appellation of Colonel Blood, was a disbanded officer of Oliver Cromwell's, famous for his daring crimes and his good fortune. He was first distinguished by engaging in a conspiracy to surprise the castle of Dublin; but this scheme was defeated by the vigilance of the duke of Ormond, and some of Blood's accomplices were executed. Escaping to England, he meditated revenge against Ormond, and actually seized him one night in his coach in St James's Street, where he might have finished his purpose if he had not studied refinements in his vengeance. He bound his captive on horseback behind one of his associates, resolving to hang him at Tyburn, with a paper pinned to his breast; but when they had got into the fields, the duke, in his efforts for liberty, threw himself and the assassin to whom he was fastened to the ground; and, while they were struggling in the mire, his grace was rescued by his servants. But the authors of this attempt were not then discovered. A little while after, in 1671, Blood formed the design of carrying off the crown and regalia from the Tower; an attempt which had very nearly been successful. He had bound and wounded Edwards, the keeper of the jewel-office, and had escaped out of the Tower with his prey; but he was overtaken and seized, together with some of his associates. One of these was known to have been concerned in the attempt upon Ormond, and Blood was immediately concluded to be the ring-leader. When questioned, he frankly avowed the enterprise, but refused to discover his accomplices. All these extraordinary circumstances made him the general subject of conversation; and the king was moved with an idle curiosity to see and speak with a person so noted for his courage and his crimes. Whether the communications at this interview excited the fear or admiration of the king, they confirmed his resolution of granting a pardon to Blood. Charles carried his kindness to Blood still further, granting him an estate of L500 a-year in Ireland, encouraging his attendance about his person, and showing him great countenance. Whilst old Edwards, who had bravely ventured his life in defending the crown and regalia, was forgotten and neglected, this villain became a kind of royal favourite. Blood enjoyed his pension about ten years; but at last being charged with fixing an imputation of a scandalous nature on the Duke of Buckingham, he was obliged to find bail to avoid being thrown into prison, and before the trial came on he died at his house in Westminster, August 24, 1680.